LinkedIn native video – What you should know

LinkedIn native video – What you should know

In August 2017, LinkedIn launched its latest offering to its users: Native Video.

This new video posting capability on LinkedIn and inspired by that which has been used on Facebook for the last couple of years, was rolled out globally to increase in-feed engagement and boost the platform’s usability, and it is of extreme importance to marketers.

What is LinkedIn native?

What is Native Video? Unlike shared video content, which requires an initial upload to YouTube prior to sharing from a link, native videos can be uploaded directly into the LinkedIn video feed.

Previously, the only way to use video on LinkedIn (unless you were a LinkedIn Influencer) was to share a link from YouTube or Vimeo.

These types of shared posts will now cause your post to nbe hidden from most users feeds and therefore will not elicit as high a level of engagement as native video does.

Native video allows LinkedIn users to record and upload video directly to personal profiles – it’s not yet open to business pages or adverts however this may change in the future.

LinkedIn Native will give publishers the option to upload native videos of ideally between thirty seconds and five minutes’ duration (though the capability extends from three seconds to ten minutes) directly from LinkedIn’s mobile app.

It is an autoplay feature and currently operates without sound. It is also currently only available on mobile devices.

Nonetheless, reach of native videos has already dramatically surpassed that of all other content on LinkedIn.

Why should you take notice of LinkedIn Native?

While LinkedIn Native is currently available only from personal profiles, it can regardless be used for business purposes, with videos being shared by individuals in the same way blogs are.

Considering the success that native video has enjoyed since its implementation on Facebook, it’s highly likely that LinkedIn will share the same successes with this feature.

Consider that:

LinkedIn is the most trusted social platform for professionals – with digital content and messages shared via the platform being perceived as more authentic and trustworthy than for any other digital medium.

This represents an unparalleled opportunity to reach a wide professional audience.

LinkedIn Native video metrics will allow publishers to identify the companies their viewers work for and what their job titles are.

They will see locations of viewers as well as comments and likes, yet not the viewers’ names or personal identities.

It is these key analytics that provide what LinkedIn claims to be the biggest point of difference between their native video offering and that of Facebook.

On Facebook, native videos get tenfold the shares that videos linked from YouTube receive. This is expected to translate across platforms with the LinkedIn Native feature.

Engagement through text-only is limiting. With video, you personalise your brand and business, communicate nuances of tone, and showcase your expertise in a more accessible way to a wider audience.

Through LinkedIn Native, marketers have a unique ability to reach a targeted, relevant audience of professionals through organic sharing via the platform. Video is shared more than any other type of social content.

Should your brand be using LinkedIn Native?

If your target audience uses LinkedIn, you should absolutely be using this feature. Note that almost 50 per cent of university students use LinkedIn, as do half of people who earn a mid-range to high income.

If you offer a B2B service, target professionals or commercial clients, or are trying to recruit employees, you will be missing a great opportunity if you don’t use LinkedIn Native.

How to use LinkedIn Native

LinkedIn has gradually been rolled out to give users access for publishing native videos on its platform.

Begin with a basic video publication schedule for your business (and, until business sharing has been implemented, share via your personal LinkedIn profile). Create videos to:

Introduce your company/brand/business

Explain how you can help viewers

Specify services you offer

Provide how-to’s and infomercials

Answer questions

Provide FAQs about your business or industry

Deliver new product announcements

Offer behind the scenes peeks

Conduct recruitment drives

Promote an event or a book

Share video testimonials from satisfied clients/customers

Content, as with all social media, should be just 20 per cent directly promotional and 80 per cent helpful, informative, or otherwise engaging.

The “Nitty Gritty” – to upload native video on LinkedIn:

Open the app on your mobile device.

Tap the video camera icon in the share box on the Home screen.

Choose “pre-recorded video” or click “Video” to record a video in real time.

Your video must be between three seconds and ten minutes duration, with a maximum file size of 5GB. To suit the attention span of most social media users, it’s best to keep video content at no more than three minutes.

Add up to 700 characters of text as a video description. It should be captivating and encourage a wide audience to watch your video. You could include an update, main points from the video, or link to a blog or other web page.

Tag relevant people, and include relevant hashtags.

Click “Post”. You need to wait in the app while your video uploads if you’re using an iPhone, however Android supports you to leave the app while the upload completes.

To add native video link to your LinkedIn profile, click the three dots icon at the top right corner of your post. Click on “Copy Link”. Go to your “Profile Settings” “Edit your Intro” and upload the video to “Media”.

Note that the native video will play automatically without sound – viewers need to activate sound to hear your video.

Some extra tips

LinkedIn is a professional platform. Your content – all content – needs to reflect this. While live and spontaneous videos might work for some on Facebook, for LinkedIn and professional content you are much better positioned for success if you create high-quality videos that maintain a professional, organised tone.

It is obvious when time and effort has been taken, with attention to detail to create and polish a video prior to upload (as it is also obvious when this has not been done), and doing this will generate better results for you.

These are the videos that are viewed to the end, and that are shared widely.

The best quality videos tend to be produced on desktop then sent to mobile device for upload.

Maintain your brand identity at all times and make your video content about your business or your brand – not personally about you or to boost your own ego.

By using LinkedIn Native, you can enhance and build both views and engagement for your content on the social platform for professionals.

It represents an unprecedented opportunity for marketers using LinkedIn to come into line with other social platforms and it is the next step to building your business, your brand, and your professional profile for the future.

TREND WATCH:Video for social media: What you need to know now

One of the biggest current trends in social media marketing today is video. I’m sure you have noticed!

Social media video marketing is part of a powerful social strategy for Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter, and you need to put as much thought and effort into creating high-value video content as you do for any other type of social marketing post.

Marketers are engaging audiences with video content more all of the time, and it is estimated that by 2019, video content will be part of the driving force behind more than 80 percent of search engine traffic in the United States alone.

Is LinkedIn your preferred social media platform? Learn how to leverage it to get more hot leads.

Not only do we share a bunch of valuable, relative and useful info on our blogs, but we’ve got a free LinkedIn eCourse to help you get the most out of this platform especially for B2B enterprises. If LinkedIn is your preferred social media channel, take a look at this course to raise your profile, generate leads and boost your business – so LinkedIn can start working for you. Link to course signup

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